Almost Complete

We are almost done with construction and rebuild of the house. We should be and I say should be lightly because as I have learned through all of this is to have LOTS of patience and that something will get delayed for one reason or another. Our contractor has been great, and I so wish I could recommend him to any local readers but he is retiring after our house is complete.

Things get delayed for various reasons, and all I can give for advice to anyone that has to go through a large rebuild or renovation like this is to have lots of patience and that it'll get done when it gets done. Believe me when I say I know it can be frustrating at times and you will think it'll never get done but everything will come together in the end. All in all, we have been very lucky in the fact that whatever worker that was supposed to show up on a particular day, has actually shown up. In past experience and stories I've heard from friends, many times workers go MIA, but we've been very lucky in that area.

Enough talk, let me show you a little of what's been going on...

The house got painted a dark gray. I chose Benjamin Moore's color Wrought Iron. I love the way it turned out with the bright white trim. Next up is fixing the deck and repainting that. I haven't chosen the color yet, but will probably go with a light gray.

Counter tops were installed and I'm so happy with them. I picked Absolute Black Granite in a honed finish by Pental for the exterior cabinets and "Misterio" Quartz by Pental as well. 
I love that the quartz looks like marble yet you don't have to be worried about the finish of it.

 Not the best photo but you can see I chose two wall ovens and mounted them in the lower cabinets, in the middle is the induction cooktop and we installed a downdraft fan, so no need for an upper fan.

 To the right, you can see 2 niches, one has a built in lower cabinet. At first I was planning on using this as a "command center" with family calendar and such, but I think I will install shelves instead and make it into a little coffee bar and maybe put my wine glasses up there too since we took down our other bar area in the family room. The second niche is our walk in pantry. We had this before the renovation and we will be installing new shelving inside and adding a barn door instead of the bifold door that was on it previously.

Windows were temporarily covered because the exterior was being painted.

 Again, not a great photo but white subway was installed to the ceiling there on the back wall, pendant lights were installed as well as the sink faucet.

Our harwoods are just starting the staining process. I really wanted to go light but we have red oak floors and if I went light they would still have a pinky tone to them, and I just wasn't loving that. Instead I decided to go similar to what we had before but went a little darker and added ebony so the floors are more of a true brown with no hints of red.

That's about all to show for now. The staining process should take most of the week if not all of this week. We are hoping to get back in by the weekend, so we can start touching up paint in the other areas of the house.

Hoping that the next time I check in here, I'll be able to show you the tiled fireplace. I will also do a post on any changes that were made to my original plans and why. Stay tuned.